Georgetown : The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development is targeted to supervise the selection of programmes eligible for funding through the Australian Government’s Direct Aid Programme (DAP). This was revealed by Clint Fernandes, Senior Policy/Research Officer of the Australian High Commission, Trinidad and Tobago.
Fernandes stated that while this could possibly mean that the Ministry will act as a Project Manager, consideration is being done regarding the allocation of funds to the Ministry along with the selection of who exactly would make the reports to the DAP body regarding the progress of the projects.
DAP is involved in flexible small grant schemes funded from the Australian aid budget and administered by the country’s embassies and high commissions around the world, targeting over 100 countries. DAP has been present in the Caribbean region for a while and is a big part of Australia’s profile and presence in the Caribbean. The focus of the programme is on the developmental goals of the countries targeted.
Previous projects funded in Guyana were in the field of community health. One involved the outfitting of a special needs care and rehabilitation centre in Port Mourant which has successfully benefitted persons in nearby communities.
The other project was an offshoot of the multi-country cervical cancer prevention initiative. This was aimed at building the capacity of key Caribbean civil society actors to respond more effectively to the community-based needs for cervical cancer prevention, treatment and control. The project was implemented across five OECS countries through their cancer societies, viz Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana and Jamaica.
In Guyana, remote indigenous populations were targeted since they did not have access to health care at this level. Through the project, the Cancer Institute of Guyana was able to access Hobadia, White Water Creek and Moruca Villages which allowed the implementation of public education and awareness programmes. It served to allow for early diagnosis for treatable conditions like cervical cancer using the VIA and Pap smear screening technologies. Five hundred Guyanese women were screened during the project.
More is expected to be done in Guyana, through the DAP projects particularly in Berbice. Discussions in this regard were held with the Ministries of Local Government and Regional Development, Amerindian Affairs, Culture Youth and Sport and Health.
Fernandes explained that in the Caribbean the programme is administered through the Australian High Commission in Trinidad and covers 14 CARICOM member states of which 10 are eligible for official developmental assistance. These are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Guyana, Suriname and Haiti.
Some priorities of the programme focus on alleviating poverty and basic humanitarian hardship, community health which is a priority for the project, schools and education, small scale infrastructure, rural development, youth intervention, gender equality and women’s development, agriculture and food security and the environment, and disaster relief.
The aim is to fund at least one project in each country including Guyana.
Among the priorities for the projects are sustainable economic development and poverty alleviation, food security and agricultural development, community health and the newly emerging priority, fisheries.
Fernandes announced that the application period is now open and will last until October 17. It is expected that the funding for the first successful projects will be disbursed by the end of October and disbursements done between then and December.
DAP being meant to be flexible and responsive, and because many of the countries are in the hurricane belt, the allocations are quarantined until the end of the hurricane season. If however, those funds are not needed, the final round of allocations is done around mid-January.
This is done for projects with short time-frames or to groups previously worked with, which have demonstrated the ability to execute their projects in a short period of time.
DAP projects are small scale which are slated for completion in one year or less with an average funding of between US$5,000 to US $50,000. The previous US$30,000 limit has now been increased to US$60,000. As such, NGOs and Community Based Organisations are being urged to think of bigger projects, with the establishment of larger allocations. Fernandes however warned that caution will be displayed with the larger allocations.
Also new in the guidelines is the fact that the projects can now exceed one year, which will allow for the broadening of guidelines in creating project design. Another change provides the accommodation for local government agencies to apply to the programme. Additionally, any single entity could be funded for more than one project in any financial year especially where the projects complement each other but are separately sustainable. The new application forms will ensure that all the required information is captured.
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